Swordfishing on the upswing off the coast of Florida

STEVE WATERSSouth Florida Sun-Sentinel

Published Sunday, August 25, 2002

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Larry Beard has caught several blue marlin over 1,000 pounds, including a 1,204-pounder in Madeira, a Portuguese island off Morocco. But those fish had nothing on the swordfish he caught Saturday night off Hallandale Beach.

Beard caught a 454-pound swordfish fishing with Capt. Kunta Smith on Lady Pamela II. Beard needed four hours to land the fish, which rates as one of the biggest swords caught on hook and line in local waters in recent memory. (The IGFA all-tackle world record swordfish weighed 1,182 pounds and was caught on 130-pound line off Chile in 1953.)

"It was really awesome," said Beard, who keeps the charter boat Freed 'Em in Madeira. "Since 1995, I've caught six blue marlin over 1,000 pounds and the longest it took me to land them was an hour, maybe an hour-and-a-half. I just caught one in Madeira that was well over 1,000 pounds two weeks ago, it was a 30- to 35-minute fight. I would put the swordfish up against anything, it's definitely the king of the sea."

"It was a real tough fish," said Smith, who has caught a couple of granders, as 1,000-pound marlin are known. "It was an epic battle."

Recreational swordfishing has been extremely good off South Florida for the past several years. One reason is that anglers started using live blue runners and goggle-eyes for bait instead of dead squid. Another is that the National Marine Fisheries Service forced commercial long-liners out of the waters off Florida, leaving all those fish to the recreationals and a handful of hook-and-line commercial fishermen.

"I heard about this swordfishing thing here and I went out with Kunta about four or five months ago," Beard said. "I think Saturday was my sixth trip with him and our best night. Our biggest fish so far was 120, 130 pounds, which was pretty much the average for big fish (in South Florida)."

This fish was 94 inches from the lower jaw to the fork of the tail and 138 inches -- 11.5 feet -- overall. Its bill was 51 inches from the base to the tip, its girth was 52.5 inches and the girth of the tail was 24 inches.

Beard and Smith, who fished with Tony DiGiulian, Walter Shaw and John "J.T." Tedder -- all experienced swordfish fishermen -- had four lines in the water, two with live blue runners and two with squid. They were 14 miles off Hallandale Beach, in 1,500 feet of water, when the big sword ate a blue runner on a 9/0 hook that was down 300 feet.

The fish was hooked at 8:20 p.m. Beard got it to the boat at 12:20 a.m. using 130-pound line with a 300-pound leader on a Penn International 80 reel.

Until the fish came to the boat, none of the men thought it was that big. The fish jumped shortly after it was hooked and Smith, who once caught a gut-hooked 400-pounder in 20 minutes, said it looked like a 100-pounder.

Tedder said he saw the fish's head and bill and thought it was 200 pounds. In retrospect, Beard thinks they mistook the fish's pectoral fins for its tail. DiGiulian thought the fish was somehow wrapped in the line.

"We couldn't believe with all the pressure we put on it that he wouldn't come to the boat," DiGiulian said. "It was like a four-act play."

"We had the fish 20 yards behind the boat after 30 minutes," Beard said. "At that point it seemed to be a standard fish fight, if anything a little on the easy side."

Then the fish went deep and slugged it out with Beard.

"The fish fought hard until the bitter end," Tedder said. "It didn't want to stop. We had marks on the line so we'd know how much line was out. We'd get the fish up to 100 feet, then it'd burn it back down to 300."

"About three hours in, people had been shouting words of encouragement, then it got dead silent. I thought, 'This is the cool part of it'," Beard said. "Finally, Kunta said, 'I don't know how we're going to explain how it took us over three hours to catch a 200-pound fish.' "

Beard finally got the sword to the boat, where DiGiulian wired the exhausted fish and Tedder stuck it with a flying gaff. Beard, who said he usually jumps out of the fighting chair to look at a big fish he's caught, remained in the chair while the other four men lifted the fish into the boat.

"The thing that impressed me the most is I've caught billfish all over the world, huge fish, and I've never had a fish that fought that hard for that long," DiGiulian said. "It was hooked in the corner of the mouth on the right side and you could see where the hook had worked a hole in the mouth. Another 20 minutes, half hour, with the pressure we put on him, we would've ripped the hook out."

After the catch, the boat headed back to its dock in Fort Lauderdale, where the fish was weighed and then the weary Beard made the short drive home.

"The beauty of this is you travel all over the world," Beard said, "and catch a fish like this right in your own back yard."